A TAXI driver told a court of the terrifying moment when a gunman pointed a revolver at his chest and pulled the trigger.

A TAXI driver told a court of the terrifying moment when a gunman pointed a revolver at his chest and pulled the trigger.

Joel Garrity, 31, was giving evidence at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday in the trial of nine people accused of being involved in gang-related violence and drug dealing in Croxteth
and Norris Green
.

Mr Garrity recalled how he was leaving his house in Ford Avenue, Kirkby
, after midnight to get in his Hackney cab when he was ambushed by two masked youths.

He said: “I went out about 12.30am. My cab was up my path. I went to get back in my taxi.

“Someone came running up to me with a gun in the middle of the road. It was a silver gun, a big gun. They had it in two hands.

“At first when I saw them I ran to the exit of my close. He ran after me. I stopped in the road and he caught up with me. I could feel him behind me.

“I seen two of them then. They seemed young, they were thin. His face was covered by a hat and scarf.

“He tried to fire it. I was watching him. He pulled the trigger. It didn’t work. I decided to run again.

“I got a couple of yards and I heard him, felt him, behind me. He tried again to shoot and the same thing happened. That time I tried to grab it. I was grabbing his hands and getting him to move it away from my chest.”

He said when the struggle was over the two lads ran off and he found a hat and a glove on the floor, and shortly after heard a scrambler bike driving away.

Jurors were then played a recording of the 999 call he made shortly after to report the incident on October 21, 2011, and evidence that DNA on the hat was a match for one of the defendants, alleged Croxteth Crew member Barry Burke.

Courtney Griffith QC, Barry Burke’s barrister, asked: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of a gang? Were you ever a member of the Nogsyheads or Strand Gang?”

Mr Garrity said: “No.”

Mr Griffiths QC then asked: “As far as you are aware no one would want to shoot at you for any reason?”

Mr Garrity replied: “They wouldn’t, no.”

But John McDermott QC, for Ryan Holden, pointed out that several of the defendants had phoned Mr Garrity, despite the fact he said he did not know them.

“It’s known as sniff in the area isn’t it? You refer to it as sniff don’t you?”

Mr Garrity said: “No.”

But Mr McDermott said: “If you don’t know him you can’t have fallen out with him. There’s no reason for him to bear you any ill will.”

A month after the alleged incident police recovered an arsenal of guns and ammo from wasteland near Stonedale Crescent, Croxteth, said to have been used by members of the Croxteth Crew gang – also known as the Croxteth Young Guns – in a series of shootings and drive by attacks.

Croxteth Crew witness told police of arson campaign against his family

A YOUNG criminal whose family became the target of a series of alleged Croxteth Crew petrol bombings and shootings could not remember what happened, a court heard.

Josh Fitzsimmons, 21, was called to give evidence about arson attacks that happened in Croxteth and the surrounding area in 2011.

But after answering questions in an obstructive manner, Nicholas Johnson QC, prosecuting, instead played a tape of a police interview he gave in early 2012 while he was in a young offenders institute.

In it he was confronted with evidence that a gun was found bearing his DNA and was asked to explain how it got there.

He said he had been threatened by two masked males, one of them with a gun, at 2am on a day in October 2011 and the DNA must have got there during the scuffle.

During the interview he told police of a number of other violent incidents that had befallen members of his family.

He said: “My uncle’s house got petrol bombed, that’s the part where they had to throw an 18 month old baby out the window. My grandad’s house got petrol bombed. My uncle’s house got rammed with a car. My aunty’s house got shot at twice.” The court had previously heard that two women and a baby barely escaped with their lives after an arson attack at a house in Alma Close, Fazakerley, on November 4, 2011.

On the tape Fitzsimmons refused to name names, saying “that’s not what I do” but when asked if he had fallen out with these people he said yes, and admitted certain parts of Croxteth were “out of bounds” to him.

Nicholas Johnson QC said to him in court: “You clearly say you used to be friends with these people, but you wanted to get out of what they were doing. That’s what you say. You say I’m nearly 21. I’m a man. I’ve matured and you wanted to get out.

“What were they doing, these people who you used to be friends with? Because you didn’t want to do it they were prepared to shoot at your house, to firebomb your family’s homes? Terrorise your relatives?”

Mr Johnson added: “You were telling police these people were trying to run you out of town.”

Josh Fitzsimmons replied: “I can’t remember.”

Mr Johnson accused him of being scared and said: “Why were you trying to get your family to move out of Croxteth?”

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